


The Detective and The Auror

by Purpleplums



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Merlin (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Auror!Merlin, BAMF?Arthur, BAMF?Merlin, Detective/Auror, F/M, Gwenisajerk, M/M, ReferncetoGwen/Morganaifyoureallysquint, Reincarnation, SeerMorgana, Thriller, detective!Arthur, modernau
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-03-22 09:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13761066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purpleplums/pseuds/Purpleplums
Summary: Three days to find the girl or Arthur loses his job. A vanishing girl, a car chase, a misfired gun and a mini explosion were the causes of Arthur's woes and the meeting of Merlin Emrys, an apparent escaped Comic Con attendee. It wasn't until a "little" too late when Arthur finally realizes that a. Merlin was actually a wizard b. he's an auror and c. they're gonna need to crack the case together.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is the first time I'm posting on AO3 so I hope you guys enjoy this! Comments are so motivating and helpful, if there are things to improve and typos etc. please comment below! Alright, enough blabbering, please enjoy!

Arthur sipped his coffee with a scowl as the pitter-patter of a winter shower resonated around him. His eyes followed the synchronized window wipers back and forth as he contemplated and regretted every decision he has made in his life to get him in this position.

He’s been shot at, spit on, beat up, kicked, scratched, stabbed, cut, knocked down, punched, and pepper sprayed (with his own pepper spray), all the while wearing a suit which earned him the title of Detective constable, the lowest rank of the CID and sent off as a patrol officer.

_A patrol officer._

Then, amidst all his self-pitying, something caught his eye. 

It might be the girl’s luck that she was wearing such alarmingly gargantuan glasses which almost immediately caught Arthur’s attention. But as she disappeared from Arthur’s vision behind a large blue van from across the street, the stream of people from the sidewalk parted all their faces pale with horror before the blue van took off with a squeal of tires.

Everything was normal, except the fact that the girl with the huge glasses had now vanished

Without another thought Arthur started his car and stomped on the gas pedal as he chased the blue van down the street.

The van immediately noticed Arthur’s pursuit and started veering past other vehicles to get forward. The smirk on Arthur’s face only grew bigger. _Definitely guilty_.

The van twisted and turned in hopes of losing Arthur but Arthur’s small Chevrolet (it was ancient, Arthur had no idea how the van wasn’t outrunning him) was far easier to maneuver and since the path was already “cleared” by the van in front, it wasn’t hard to see that Arthur was catching up by the second.

50 meters… 30 meters…

Arthur rolled his car window down before taking out his gun. Switching the safety off, he took his aim at the van’s tire.

This was the moment Arthur’s brain decided that it would be great to remind Arthur that he only had one bullet left in his gun.

So he steadied himself, took a deep breath, pulled the trigger and prayed for the best.

Apparently, God was busy at that moment because the bullet went straight for the tank of the van instead of its intended destination.

But to Arthur’s pleasant surprise the car started swerving and eventually screeched to a stop with a violent jerk.

Arthur slid out of his car quickly and started approaching the van with his gun pointed at it. He could only hope that he could pull off the “I’m-a-rough-tough-police-with-a-fully-loaded-gun” act.

Turns out his self doubt was a complete waste of time because before he could open his mouth the van had already burst into flames in front of him before a mini explosion lit up the whole street.

“Shit.”

“Detective constable Pendragon, how many times—

“Yes, yes, I should never act alone, especially without reporting.”

“Pendragon! A young innocent lady had perished because of _you_.”

“But you heard the forensics report, no human remains were found within the explosion! She’s still out there, I know it.”

The superintendent narrowed her eyes at Arthur before sneering. “Maybe there’s nothing left of her to find. You’d do better as the “prince” of Camelot Mr. Pendragon.”

Arthur took a deep breath. “Ma’am, please, if you’d give me five days…”

“What, you’ll find the girl? Sorry but she’s already found in that van you blew up yourself.”

“Ma’am, I’ll quit for good if I don’t find her in 120 hours.”

“Make it 72 hours.”

Arthur bit his lips before quickly releasing it. “Deal.”

The superintendent left with a curt nod and a smug smile slathered across her face leaving a very troubled Arthur sighing behind her almost bony silhouette.

“Looks like you’ll need help.”

Arthur quickly turned around at the unfamiliar voice. A lanky young man stood in front of him wearing a red and blue scarf, a black top lined with golden threads in several places and a captain’s hat to top it all off. Quite frankly, his clothing was ridiculous.

“You’re in the wrong place for Comic Con.” Arthur raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms.

The young man in front of him just rolled his eyes. “Nice to meet you too.”

“So are you an officer I haven’t met yet? Because civilians aren’t allowed in the crime scene.”

“Merlin Emrys, probably the greatest wizard you’ll ever meet.” Merlin extended a hand which Arthur took with a jeering look on his face.

“Well then, meet your King Arthur. _Merlin_.”

"Your name is Arthur Pendragon? This must be destiny!" Arthur tried to look for even a trace of sarcasm on Merlin’s face but all he could see was genuine surprise and wonder.

“Destiny yes. So-so what’s your occupation?’ Arthur’s brows furrowed. The young man in front of him was beginning to really worry him because he seemed to be dead serious about everything he’s said.

“Auror from the Ministry of Magic.”

“Ok, I’ll repeat myself. You’re _really_ in the wrong place for Comic Con sir.”

Merlin just groaned. “Of course you wouldn’t believe me, you’re just a muggle… but I thought that you’d, you know believe me since you’re—

“I’m what?”

“You’re blond, you’ve got an unpractical sense of justice, you’re arrogant and probably a prat-hey, don’t interrupt me, I can tell just by talking to you—

“What are you trying to say??”

“You’re practically the reincarnation of King Arthur himself!”

Arthur sighed heavily pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m sure there are millions of people out there that fits your description. Look, just because my parents thought “hey look at our last name, would be a shame if we didn’t name him Arthur!” doesn’t automatically make me King Arthur.”

Merlin just nodded earnestly. “I know, but there’s something about you Arthur… I just can’t put a finger on it.”

“Well you definitely don’t need to tell me when you’ve put your finger on it. I need to go examine the crime scene if I don’t want to lose my job.”

Arthur meant to leave the strange young man behind as he turned away to go examine the scene.

But things don’t always go as planned.

As he bent down to examine the strange powder left everywhere a figure appeared behind him without warning.

“Floo powder…”

Arthur jumped a little at the sudden voice behind him. “How are you still here??”

“No one except for you seems to be too bothered by me.” Merlin shrugged as he started scooping a little bit of the powder into a tiny Ziploc bag which he seemed to have conjured out of no where.

“Yes because no one except for me is treating this like a crime scene. Look, I don’t know why you think you’ll be able to help me because you can’t. This is my job, not yours. You’re an “Auror” whatever that is, so I suggest you stay out of this.”

“First of all, this _is_ my job, I’m an Auror which in simple terms, is a police officer of the magical world. Second of all, I know that girl’s out there too so if you don’t want to lose your job I suggest you work with me. There are things that you can’t even imagine at work here, the disappearance of this young lady is only a miniscule part of the grand scheme of things.” Merlin countered his patience running lower by the second.

Arthur’s had enough. “Well, if you _really_ are a wizard, do a little incantation or something before you see that you’re clearly insane which makes it my duty to send you to a mental—

“WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA.”

This was the third time Arthur had been stunned speechless in his life. He was actually levitating three meters off the ground in front of a heaving Merlin with what seemed to be a wand pointed at him.

“I. Am. Not. Mental.”

With a flick of the wand Merlin dropped Arthur to the ground and stormed away.

Arthur’s brain turned on again after sitting dumbfounded on the ground for three seconds.

_Crap crap crap crap._

_he just angered an actual wizard._

“Hey, Merlin? Merlin!”

Arthur scrambled up on his feet chasing after the wizard who was getting farther and farther away.

“Merlin, look, I… apologize for what I said to you. It’s just magic doesn’t exist here… It’s hard for us- uh non-magical—

“Muggles.”

“What?”

“We call you “non-magical people” muggles.”

“Now that’s just offensive.”

“What?”

“You can’t just name us as a horrible brand of mugs.” Arthur put on an expression of offense, but it wasn’t long before they both burst into laughter.

“So, am I forgiven? O’ greatest wizard I’ll probably ever meet?” Arthur feigned a bow looking up at Merlin who had a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

“I’ll take it under consideration.”

“Merlin!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this written for a while now but was just too lazy to post it. But since I have a big project due soon, I'll post this as an excuse to procrastinate on that project (R.I.P. me). XDXD Anyways, hope you guys enjoy this chapter and comments and kudos are always more than welcome! ;)

Arthur eyed Merlin nervously as he played with his car’s radio. He was sure that one more twiddle and the whole thing will just explode right in their faces. Quick, make small talk to save them both from the fate of dying from an exploding radio!

Arthur coughed abruptly before starting. “Floo powder, what’s that?”

Yep, small talk.

“Oh, it’s a powder that allows wizards to travel within a system. Kind of like a bus, I mean we do have a Knight bus, but that’s another story. With floo powder, you step into a fireplace, you say the place you want to go to, and throw the powder into the fireplace.” Merlin started explaining and, to Arthur’s relief, stopped playing around with his radio.

“So can we track where they went by analysing the floo powder somehow?” Arthur turned his head to Merlin with an excited look on his face, ah, the perks of having a wizard as a partner…

Wait, partner??

They’re not partners!

“And I just want to make something clear, we’re only in this together because we’re dealing with magic. I’m actually breaking several rules just letting you come with me.”

“Arthur, magic is everywhere. It’s not something that’s limited to me, the wizarding world or magical beings. It’s woven into the very fabric of creation. You’re gonna need me a lot more than you realize. Now and in the future.” Merlin paused before opening his mouth again seeing that Arthur wanted to give a piece of his mind about what Merlin just said. “And yes, you can indeed track the whereabouts of the floo powder’s user. That’s why you’re going to drop me off at somewhere secluded before going off to “run on a plate” or whatever.”

“Run the plate, you mean.”

“What’s the difference? You muggles, I just can’t fathom the lot of you out.”  Merlin shook his head with a “it-can’t-be-helped” expression. Arthur just rolled his eyes. “Where do you live? I can drop you off.”

“Uh, well, I don’t exactly have somewhere to live here yet… I mean, I can go to an inn but I have no idea how to get a room and plus, I think inns aren’t private enough. Aren’t there those security cameras everywhere?”

“Good point, wait, you have money? So you guys use the same currency as us? And why are you so intent on privacy now? You levitated me three meters off the ground in front of the entire CID and you didn’t seem very worried about showing your magical abilities.” Arthur screeched to a stop almost hitting a little old lady hobbling across the street.

“Ok, first, you are a horrible driver. Second, what’s this? Twenty questions? If you don’t know what to do with me where are we even going right now?”

“New Scotland Yard, I’m sure there’ll be a spare room for you without security cameras.”

“Alright.” Merlin shrugged before adding. “I cast a spell around us so that no one could see or hear us back there.” And then he quickly turned his head to face the window to hide his huge grin.

“I knew it!”

The familiar sign of “New Scotland Yard” came into Arthur’s view as his little white car rolled into the parking lot. The sky was grey as usual, but the raining had stopped which Arthur was thankful for.

If Arthur thought that having to save his car radio from Merlin was annoying then what followed suit was downright disastrous.

He had to physically steer Merlin away from the heaters and computer keyboards as they slowly made their way down the corridors and fought the urge to just blindfold Merlin and guide him to his office just seeing the astonished looks he gave to the telephones and the people speaking into them.

“Woah, I thought that telephones had little things that you’d spin, and how come they’re so commonplace! I thought they were extremely rare!” Merlin whispered furiously to Arthur as he was pushed forward by his shoulders. Arthur merely rolled his eyes at Merlin’s astonishment. “They were, a hundred years ago. I still can’t believe that you asked me to _owl_ you if anything should arise.”

“Hey! It works extremely well for us wizards, why can’t it work for muggles?”

“Yeah, that’s probably why you guys are still stuck in medieval times.”

Merlin gave a look to Arthur as he was half shoved half pushed into the other’s tiny and extremely chilly room.

“Alright, I’m going to run the car’s plate and you can track them down with that floo powder. How much time do you need?” Arthur had already settled in his desk and starting to turn on his work laptop.

“Not much. Why didn’t you have your laptop in your car? I saw that all the other police cars had a laptop in them.” Merlin took out the floo powder before carefully setting a little on a stool which he had brought beside Arthur’s desk from the corner.

“Short answer, I forgot. I don’t think you’ll be interested in the long one.”  Arthur furrowed his brows as he scanned the screen for a third time. “This is very strange…”

“Locus Manufestio!” Merlin’s eyes closed for a second before they fluttered open again. “I know their location!”

“Lovely, we hurry along there, save the girl, bring her back and case closed!” Arthur’s eyes lightened as he took out his notepad and pen. “Address please.”

“Trafalgar square…”  

It wasn’t really Arthur’s fault to oversimplify the situation, because he’s clearly never heard of the wise saying: Life is like maths, if it’s too easy then something’s wrong. Terribly wrong.

So it was on a grey cloudy day, in the middle of Trafalgar Square where Arthur stood across from a lady in a knights helmet with the girl, now devoid of her huge glasses bound up and kneeling beside her.

“Miss, hand her over and I promise you a safe return.” Arthur really, really hoped that she would just hand the girl over. But life had a knack of being a prick.

“What can _you_ do to harm me?” A muffled but undoubtedly female voice came from within the helmet.

“I really don’t want to make a scene here miss, I believe the best choice for you would be to hand me the girl.” Arthur took a step forward, growing restless.

“If I hand her over you must promise to abandon the investigation.” The woman stood her ground, if she was even the slightest intimidated she certainly wasn’t showing it.

“I should arrest you right here and now, but if you hand me the girl, I promise not to arrest you.”

A sneer came from the helmet as the lady crossed her arms. “I have powers you cannot even begin to imagine, what’s your leverage? The law? How do you seek to control me with laws in which I do not abide?” Suddenly the woman stopped. “Oh, and it seems that we’re playing two games here. If I didn’t notice your queen you might’ve checkmated me, sir knight.”

A choking sound came behind Arthur. To his horror, Merlin was being dragged out from behind Nelson’s Column, the tips of his shoes barely touching the ground as the force pulled him along from the neck.

“Let him go. Now.” In the blink of an eye, Arthur had pulled out his gun.

He could only hope that Merlin’s spell was still in effect.

“Abandon the investigation.” The woman tightened her held out hand.

Arthur spared a glance at Merlin who seemed to be on the verge of losing consciousness.

“I _will_ fire. Let him go, NOW.” Arthur snarled.

The woman only tightened her hand even more.

That was the last straw.

A gunshot and a body slumped to the ground drew everyone’s attention to this curious scene that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

There were two women, one bleeding on the ground and in a knight’s helmet and the other bound up but running desperately towards the men on the other side, one heaving and the other spluttering on the ground.

Suddenly a dagger that seemed to have formed from thin air materialized in the running girl’s hands. It was too late for the unsuspecting blond, bloodshed was inevitable.

“ARTHUR!!” Merlin screamed, there was nothing he could do, it was too late to grab his wand, Arthur was going to die, die in front of his eyes… _again_.

Again?

The girl was suddenly thrown backwards and miraculously, Arthur stood in front of Merlin unscathed and in perfect health except for a racing heart and an adrenaline overload.

Merlin let out a huge sigh of relief as he got up from the ground.

“Stay still.” Merlin croaked, his voice completely ruined for the day.

He pointed his wand towards the sky. “Obliviate.”

The staring crowd suddenly dispersed as the people went back to their own business. Merlin turned to Arthur and gave him a funny look before shaking his head.

“Quick, let’s go check on them both, you didn’t kill that woman, right?” Merlin hurried over to the girl that had now completely changed. She was a completely different person, but most of all, she was dead. Merlin quickly found the Polyjuice that reeked of poison. This was a suicide mission. 

Merlin cast a look to Arthur who hurried over to the unconscious woman before taking off her helmet.

The kidnapped girl, now without her glasses lay there, unconscious and pale as death.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been really trying to fix my writings and add more narrative into this story! Thank you all for the lovely and amazing comments (compliments and constructive criticisms alike!). So I've been kinda on a writers block lately trying to really think more about what I'm writing. Anyways, comments and kudos mean the world to me as always and I hope you guys enjoy this belated chapter!

The air seemed to freeze around them as the new information settled into their brains, this was bad. Really, really bad.

“Quick, can’t you heal her with your magic or something?” Arthur looked desperately to Merlin who stared back at him with equal desperation.

“I’m rubbish at healing spells! I’d do her more harm than good!”

“G—give me your scarf!” Arthur’s hand was twitching as he almost snatched Merlin’s scarf out of his hands and pressed it on the gun wound.

“Call 911.” Arthur gave Merlin his phone before quickly realizing that Merlin had no idea what to do with what seemed to him, a glowing metal box.

“Apply pressure to the wound.” Arthur quickly snatched his phone out of Merlin’s hands before dialing in 911 with his own trembling fingers.

It felt like a lifetime had passed before the ambulance finally arrived along with a police car.

“Pendragon, it seems that you have found the girl.”

Arthur knew exactly who had approached him without even turning around, only Superintendent Annis Caerleon had the ability to wear a 10cm heels at a crime scene.

“I have ma’am, but I’m afraid she’s in critical condition…” Arthur sighed, Caerleon’s appearance had never bode well for him.

An eyebrow shot up on Caerleon’s pale, bony face, Arthur knew he better have a good explanation for this or he was definitely going to lose this job and give his father the satisfaction that he was, indeed, just the ‘prince of Camelot’.

“Ma’am, would you like to hear the absurd truth or a believable lie?” Judging by the unimpressed look on her face, Arthur knew that he had officially taken a step towards unemployment.

“This isn’t a philosophy discussion Pendragon, I want the cold hard facts, organized and precise.”

“Well then, I want you to first understand the fact that magic exists— Please, ma’am, just give me a chance.”

The Superintendent still looked extremely unimpressed, but she reluctantly put on a ‘I’m listening’ face.

So Arthur started explaining everything but left Merlin out of the entire narrative, the superintendent really didn’t need to know that he had let an ‘outsider’ in on this case.

Arthur was pleasantly surprised after he had finished his explanation that Merlin hadn’t tried even once to interrupt Arthur. But his face fell as he quickly realized that Merlin was gone, a sudden feeling of a parent losing their kid surged in Arthur as he quickly scanned the square that was devoid of Merlin.

“Are you looking for someone?” 

That snapped Arthur’s attention back to his commander.

“No ma’am, I was just, surveying our surroundings.”

Caerleon narrowed her eyes putting on an expression of distrust. “You’re hiding something from me Pendragon, I can smell it.”

Arthur sighed. He was probably the worst liar the world has ever seen. “I… was given assistance during my investigation, and the fact that he isn’t here now probably means that he wishes to remain anonymous.”

“Why should I trust him?”

“Because we found the girl that you claimed to have perished.” Arthur paused before adding. “In less than _six_ hours.”

The superintendent shook her head. “You better pray that the young lady wakes up. If she doesn’t the press will give us hell.”

Arthur immediately fell silent, it seemed that even with the girl found, his job was still on the line. How would he explain the girl’s death? ‘There was a woman holding who we believed to be the abductee as hostage and refused to cooperate, so I had to shoot her, but it turns out the “hostage” was actually an assassin who had transformed her looks to be that of the abductee’s and the woman was actually the abductee all along. Also, magic is real. Good day to you all ladies and gentlemen.’

Arthur almost wanted to laugh.

_But the Superintendent believes him… right?_

“Ma’am, you seemed to have taken my stance on…um magic’s actualities quite well…” It really wasn’t hard to tell that Arthur had no idea how to word this but Caerleon just smiled knowingly.

“You didn’t look like you were lying and if you lied, I’d know, wouldn’t I? You’re an honest young man Pendragon, it’s a shame the world doesn’t value that much anymore.”

Arthur fought the urge to pinch himself, Caerleon has never _ever_ complimented him before, probably because of her affiliations with his father, but they’ve never seen eye to eye even when Arthur was just a seven-year-old. Even more so now because she had probably been using every trick up her sleeve to fire him, so he could go back to be his father’s obedient, loving son.

But that would never happen again. Not after what happened to Morgana.

Arthur’s eyes frosted up for a moment before melting into a vat of galaxies again. He sighed, nothing was going anywhere.

“Take heart Arthur, prove yourself to me and I’ll never get in your way again. Finish this investigation; I look forward to you proving all of us who ever doubted you wrong.” Arthur could see a gleam in the elder woman’s stern eyes before she turned around and sauntered away like a queen approaching her chariot in those impossible heels of hers.

“Wow, she’s inspirational.”

Arthur didn’t even bother with trying to hide his surprise at Merlin’s suddenly appearing figure.

“Jesus Merlin, you _have_ to stop appearing like that if you want to spare me a heart attack.”

“Don’t worry, I have magic.”

“You just said that you were rubbish at healing magic!”

Merlin smiled sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “Right, um, well in that case I’ll just put some protective spells around you…Wait, I remember!”

Arthur raised an eyebrow. “You’ll have to elaborate.”

“I’m always like this, my mind gets distracted and I forget what I wanted to say. Point is, you know that assassin that tried to get to you?”

“Uh huh.”

“It seems, ok this is crazy even to me, but my magic deflected her away.”

Arthur just looked at him incredulously. “I know I wasn’t the most pleasant being when we first met but that’s a lot of grudge to harbour against a guy who you had just met.”

“No, I, well I’d—well, more specifically my magic would— probably go insane if you were actually hurt… anyways, as much as I wanted to save you, it was too late, I don’t have the capabilities to focus my magic like that without my wand and what repelled that assassin was an ancient and extremely powerful spell. I would’ve taken back my “Merlin Emrys, probably the greatest wizard you’ll ever meet” back after seeing that you’re protected by such a powerful wizard or witch but that… that was undoubtedly my magic.”

“You would- I mean your magic would go insane… if I was hurt…?” Arthur tilted his head in bewilderment, that’s some pretty heavy words to say to a guy you’ve only met for a couple hours.

“You’re completely missing the point but yes, I can’t explain the feeling, but when I finally came around only to see you almost being stabbed to death by someone else my magic almost felt like it wanted to jump out of my body to stop you from getting hurt. Speaking of which…”

With a snap of Merlin’s fingers, a flower crown of forget-me-nots and roses appeared on Arthur’s head of golden hair.

“What the…”

“Sorry, I can’t really help it.” Merlin shrugged with a wry smile. “I try to let my magic run as freely as possible.”

“You are _such_ a girl Merlin.” Arthur just laughed as he placed the flowers on Merlin’s mop of raven hair. “There, a pretty little flower crown for our very masculine, not at all feminine warlock.”

“Thank you, your highness, I shall wear it with pride.” Merlin took one of Arthur’s hands and pressed his lips lightly on it before running off with a mischievous smile slathered across his face.

It took Arthur a moment to realized that was the way of greeting ladies a long time ago… Merlin was so dead.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahahahah, I have yet again posted extremely late. I mean by now I'd be surprised if anyone still checks in every once in a while anymore. XDXD Pls leave comments or kudos as they will heighten the chance of me posting a chapter remotely on time.

“Do all you wizards and witches have a manual of “How to find the weirdest clothing” tucked away in your little hut??” Arthur hissed as they hid behind a wide concrete pillar from a bombardment of spells cast by three wizards and a witch who had clearly, just come back from their exile to Hot Topic.

“First of all, there is no such manual. Second, we do not live in HUTS.”

Ah, you know there is true ~~love~~ friendship when you’re four very angry magical beings bent on killing you away from dying but you’re still arguing about the fashion choices of your attackers.

Merlin managed to twist around and fired one paralyzing spell before a barrage of killing and maiming spells were blasted at where he had stuck his head out a second ago.

“Ok, that’s not gonna work.” Merlin said breathlessly eyeing the missing chunk of concrete apprehensively as he tried to calm his fleeing heart.

“I’ll cover for you, you do your spell and wand thing.” Arthur flipped the safety off.

“3, 2, 1.”

The sound of gunfire joined the incantations before Merlin quickly started shooting off spell after spell at their attackers.

Soon three of them had fallen unconscious to the ground, only one wizard remained standing trying to slink back from Merlin and Arthur’s combined attacks.

“Expelliarmus!”

Arthur froze at the flash of the wand. He wanted to duck, to get out of the way and curse all the times he slept through his Latin classes but none of that happened as Arthur merely stood there paralyzed for a few seconds too long.

All of a sudden, what seemed to be a golden shield appeared and absorbed the spell before vanishing without a trace. If not for Merlin’s stunned face and the wizard stopping his attacks, Arthur would’ve believed that that was only a figment of his imagination.

Merlin, who had seen the powerful spell in action was several paces ahead of the wizard and was therefore able to quickly disarm and bound the wizard up with a “incarcerous” before he could do anything else.

Merlin stepped up to the now bound wizard and revealed his face from under the heavy hood with one swift movement of his hand.

The wizard’s face was haggard and lean, there was something strange about the way he held himself. Arthur had no idea what was off but something, something was not right.

Merlin took a tiny pouch from his pocket and pulled out the knight’s helmet worn by the girl under Arthur’s incredulous gaze. The helmet landed on the dusty ground with a clunk.

“Now.” Merlin’s wand was pressed against the wizard’s bobbing throat, his eyes steely and interrogating. “Speak. Try anything funny, and we’ll see what happens.”

Arthur hid his shock at Merlin’s transformation. His usual witty and carefree attitude was long gone, all that was left in his eyes was a coolness that Arthur did not care to have directed at him.

The wizard merely laughed, he laughed until he wheezed and coughed. “Our lady has predicted everything… this time Emrys, this time you’ll lose again, but not just this underserving mortal. Everything that you are and was will be lost. Without losing… you’ll never bring about the golden age of Albion.”

“Your lady, is she a seer? Why was this address carved onto the helmet?” Merlin pressed on clearly unimpressed with the wizard’s cryptic blabbering.

“Our lady sees all, she sees what is, what was and what will be. Nothing that happens from now on will be a coincidence. Even the words I speak now has been long predicted. Now if you’ll excuse me gentle men…”

The wizard was interrupted by his own hacking coughs. Both Merlin and Arthur’s eyes widened slightly as blood started appearing on the ground.

“Oh my god, we can’t let him die on us, he’s our only source of information!” Arthur wanted to tear his hair out at the absurd amount of people being poisoned on this case.

Merlin had already whipped out a lumpy stone and was in the process of shoving it down the reluctant wizard’s throat.

If the situation wasn’t so serious Arthur would’ve laughed at Merlin’s futile efforts. But he refrained from doing so because first of all, the situation was dire and second of all, Merlin looked like he was ready to rip the other wizard’s mouth open.

It took another moment for Merlin to force his mouth open and quickly pop the bezoar in before closing his mouth and trying to make him swallow.

A death glare sent from Merlin urged Arthur to help even though he had no idea how to make the wizard who seemed pretty intent on dying to swallow whatever Merlin had just shoved down his throat.

“Stop standing like a useless toad and come help me make him swallow! Don’t you know that first aid thing??”

“First aid is meant to save people!”

“Which is exactly what I’m trying to do!”

“Look, I’m sorry but I don’t know what to do. I think it’s best that we call an ambulance.”

“He’s poisoned with _magic_ Arthur, your muggle medicine isn’t gonna do a lot for him. We just need to get him to swallow the bezoar.” Merlin was clamping the wizard’s mouth shut while Arthur was trying to hold him in place.  

*Chomp*

Merlin pulled his hands back with a hiss before the bound-up wizard coughed up a bloody blob along with the bezoar.

Then, he went limp in Arthur’s grasp.

Arthur tried to feel for his breath first and then his pulse. Neither held any sign of life.

He shook his head solemnly at Merlin whose gaze fell to the floor. They looked around at the other wizards and witch who were taken down and had probably already died from the same poison that killed their once conscious colleague.

Merlin stood up, allowing his hands to run through his mop of raven hair. He gave a long sigh at all that has happened, a small part still can’t believe what had just happened, still holds on to the hope that things will turn out eventually. But he quickly smothered these hopes, the disappointment would be easier to bear if there weren’t any hopes to begin with.

“Merlin, I can see this case means a lot to you, as it does to me. This isn’t our only string that can be followed.” Arthur tried to console Merlin whose back was turned to him. The young man’s back was hunched as if being crushed under the sheer feeling of disappointment.

There was a pause in the air before Merlin suddenly turned around and slammed his hat into the ground.

“Why are you trying to give me hope when there isn’t any?!”

Merlin’s chest was rising and falling from the exertion of his outburst.

“None of my family’s crazy, I-I’m not crazy… I’ll prove them wrong! I’ll prove them all wrong!!…I have to...”  

Silence settled between them once again before Arthur knelt and picked up Merlin’s hat.  

“As ridiculous as this hat is, I think it looks good on you. Let’s keep it there.” Arthur smiled briefly as he offered up the hat to Merlin who took it into his hands slowly and pressed it to his chest. His eyes were still pained but they no longer held a desperate and hopeless look to them.

“Whenever my father left on a mission he would give the hat to me for safekeeping, it kept me hopeful of his return.” Merlin smiled at the hat before sighing and securing the hat on his head again.

“Failure isn’t something to fear, hopelessness is.”

Merlin’s back had straightened again, making him just a bit taller than Arthur.

“That’s the spirit. Now, we search them, take back what we think could be evidence and crack this case.” Arthur gave Merlin’s shoulder a punch which just earned him a confused look from the other man.

“Ow! you do realize that cases, hell, life in general doesn’t work like that.”

“Yeah, but it’s nice pretending.” Arthur smiled shrugging.

Merlin gave Arthur an empathetic look before he started going around collecting all of their wands and putting them all in his tiny pouch.

Arthur was in the process of rummaging through the wizard’s pockets before Merlin came up to him.

“There’s no need Arthur, I’ve dealt with them before. They don’t carry anything that can count as evidence except for their wands.” Merlin said as Arthur stood up.

“Can you tell what spells they’ve used by the wand?”

“Yep, you can usually only tell for the last two to three days. The time period really depends on the wand, but I find that wands with unicorn core have the best memories which is unfortunate because I’m guessing that with the way they turned out, none of them had a wand with a unicorn hair core.”

“I’ll have to inquire about the wand cores at another time, but look- their boots are all wet.” Arthur pointed out to Merlin and sure enough, all their boots were wet.

“Yeah, it was raining this morning.” Merlin arched an eyebrow at Arthur who looked exasperated.

“But even though their boots were wet the rest of their clothing are dry, they don’t have umbrellas, so they were probably indoors. If they were indoors—

“Their boots shouldn’t be wet.” Merlin looked to a pretty cocky Arthur as a thought suddenly dawned upon him.

“Arthur, I think I have an idea of their last destination.”

“Just wait Merlin, I have something else to show you. On my laptop, in the car.”

So they started towards Arthur’s little stead and quickly slid in as Arthur started pulling up the report on the blue van.

“Look, the van was reported missing three years ago and was actually found but never given back to the owner.” Arthur pointed towards the screen as Merlin inched in closer to read.

“Why wasn’t it given back?”

“The report doesn’t say, everything about the car’s extremely vague, it just reeks of government intervention.” Arthur quickly scrolled to the bottom of the report as if to prove to Merlin how short and vague it was.

“Wait, can you scroll up to the picture again?” Merlin’s eyebrows furrowed as he saw something on the picture of the plate of the car.

Arthur complied, and a grin appeared on Merlin’s face as he confirmed what he thought he had seen.

“Well, well, looks like we owe the Ministry a visit.”


	5. Chapter 5

“This is the first and last time I’ll let anyone flush me down a goddamn toilet.” Arthur spat as he gestured vehemently towards Merlin whose face was flushed from holding back his laughter.

“Your face—

“ _Shut up_.”

Merlin continued to wear his cheeky smile that made part of Arthur want to punch his cheekbones in and the other part of him wanting to punch himself for even having that thought. It was just driving Arthur absolutely nuts.

Merlin quickly shushed Arthur’s further grumblings not wanting to draw attention to the two of them. He had draped a robe around Arthur to make him look more “wizard-like” but Arthur just thought that Merlin was trying to get him to conform to their frankly ridiculous sense of fashion.

But even all this couldn’t stop him from staring in awe at all the magic in this building, there was everything from autopilot paper airplanes to seemingly random animals scattered about transforming into humans and vice versa. The things he thought that only existed in stories and a child’s fantasies were happening right before his eyes!

Arthur had no idea why Merlin would be so interested in their technology if this is what he sees and experiences on a daily basis.

“Arthur stop gawking at everything like a muggle, you’re a wizard now, remember?” Merlin hissed beside Arthur’s ear snapping him back to reality.

“Ha, says the person who wouldn’t stop staring at a rubber duckie.”

“No wander you’re such a prat, it’s hard not to be one when your only friend is a rubber duck named Pen-pen.” Merlin smirked at Arthur who was spluttering incredulously, Merlin had clearly won this round.

“I’d rather no friends than have people around me who can only see me for my last name.”

Merlin just raised an eyebrow. “You’re father’s a king?”

“No, but he certainly behaves like one, a pretty tyrannical one at that.” Arthur sighed as they continued to squeeze past the torrent of wizards and witches going the other way, it was the evening already and everyone just wanted to get home.

“Ah, still not over our teenage angst, are we?” Even Arthur smiled a bit at that as the realization that he will probably never win against Merlin when it comes to sassing someone sank in.

They had left the large hall with the fountain behind them now as they passed through the monothematic passageways paved from the ceiling to floor with black glossy bricks. Arthur couldn’t help but gape at the strange architectural designs even though he and Merlin had talked about this when Arthur took them both to his little flat in which Merlin had promptly announced that he would be staying in until the case was solved. Arthur begrudgingly agreed on the terms that he not touch anything without Arthur’s supervision.

Right now, they were heading towards the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, that blue van had been taken in by the Ministry of Magic when a wizard had charmed the inside of the van to be larger than it was originally. But the real problem was that the van wasn’t the wizard’s van. So, putting two and two together, Arthur speculated that since magic was involved, the government probably compensated the van’s owner with some money or other thing of value to keep them silent and turned the van to this ministry to deal with.

How it ended back on the streets of London, driven around by a bunch of evil punk wizards is what they’re trying to figure out.  

After they got off the elevator, and made a few more turns, the department was finally in view. It was quite small, clearly underfunded, but it seemed that Merlin and probably other aurors frequently made an appearance here as the old man at the front desk merely gave Merlin a sleepy nod of acknowledgment before dozing off once more on his arms.

“Hey, Mr. Monmouth? Mr. Monmouth?” Merlin shook the snoring man awake by the shoulders. “It’s five O’ clock already.”

“Oh what’s the difference, I sleep with my books at home anyways.” The older man grumbled trying to bury his face even deeper into his arms before he suddenly snapped his head up as he caught sight of Arthur.

“Merlin! You didn’t say we had visitors!” The older man squawked shooting a pointed look at Merlin before clearing his throat and directing his attention to Arthur. “I’m terrible sorry…

“Arthur, Arthur Pendragon.” Arthur had been taught how to manoeuvre out of awkward conversations since birth, he’s kept a clear track of not being caught in any yet, he’d like to keep it that way.

“Geoffrey Monmouth, pleasure.” The old man had stood up now and extended a hand towards Arthur which Arthur immediately took and shook formally. But it wasn’t until he was halfway done shaking before he saw the horrified look on Merlin’s face.

“ _Merlin_! You brought a—hmff.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow at the sight before him. Merlin had covered Mr. Monmouth’s mouth with one of his hands while he brought the index finger of his other hand to his lips and made a harsh “shhh” sound.

“Please Mr. Monmouth, he can be trusted. Do a favour for your favourite student will you?” Merlin pleaded looking at his former teacher with big eyes before the other nodded with a roll of eyes.

“How many favours is it now Merlin? Three? And look where they got you.” Monmouth sighed before settling in his desk once more. “Moody’s dead already, your parents wouldn’t want this.”

Merlin froze for a second before he smiled again like he hadn’t heard anything.

“Please just keep ol’ Kilghy off my radar for now. I really don’t need him on my tail right.”

The old man sighed before nodding slightly and burying himself inside his books.

“Alright, Arthur, let’s get working.” Merlin announced with an unnatural cheer as he lead Arthur into a room filled with everyday objects all either chained or encaged.

Arthur was about to question this strange arrangement before all of them came alive. The once still tea kettles whistled and steamed as the slippers slammed themselves against their cages. Arthur let out a yelp of surprise before quickly silencing himself which earned an amused chuckle from Merlin.

But they quickly left the room and entered into another one which was slightly larger than the last but seemed way more crammed because of the sheer number of files crammed into the clearly second-hand book-shelves lining the walls.

“Huh, wizards really tend to misuse “muggle artefacts”, I’m surprised that we haven’t caught wind of anything suspicious yet.” Arthur raised an eyebrow as he took a file from the shelf and started flipping through it. It was apparently about a regurgitating toilet.

“We have a division to deal with that kind of things. The spell ‘obliviate’ is quite useful when it comes to dealing with muggles.” Merlin explained as he headed straight towards one particular bookshelf. “Some of these files date back to Queen Guinevere’s times I wouldn’t touch the files in the bookshelves on the right side of the room. They might crumble just by touch.”

“Queen Guinevere? As in Queen Guinevere of Camelot, wife of King Arthur?” Arthur laughed. “Merlin, those are stuffs of legend, no one even knows for certain if this Arthur guy existed at all.”

“You’d be surprised.” Merlin muttered as he went through the files. Before Arthur could reply Merlin had already taken a file out.

“Hopefully this will be more thorough than your file.” Merlin said as he flipped it open and handed Arthur some of the papers.

To their pleasant surprise, this file was quite thorough. It documented the van’s handing over and its containment. Since it was too large to be kept in the tiny department. The funny thing was that the file stated that the van was destroyed since the misuser had already been caught and fined.

“Well that never happened.” Arthur said as he set the papers back down.

“So they were going to destroy it, but before that it was stored in the Hall of Prophecy… That’s probably where they stole the van. It was all over the news how the Hall of Prophecy was broken in just yesterday.” Merlin set his papers down too as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. “What I don’t get is how the file claims it to be destroyed…”

“Wait, so if I heard you correctly then the news didn’t cover the stolen van but only said that the Prophecy Hall was broken in? How did no one notice a bright blue, huge ass truck missing??”

“The Prophecy Hall is huge, no one would notice a blue van missing, especially not a blue van that had been “destroyed” already.” Merlin brushed Arthur’s question aside as he mumbled to himself. “So if those wizards had broken into the Prophecy Hall and taken the van as a means of escape… no, there’s something wrong. Why would they take the van, and why would the van be so conveniently “destroyed”?”

“Maybe there was something about that truck that they purposefully wanted and so they faked the record to get their hands on it…” Arthur speculated before his face suddenly brightened up. “Merlin, what if the van was never made it there in the first place? That’s why no one noticed it missing, it just simply wasn’t there.”

“What are you saying? The aurors were tasked with taking the van to the room…” Merlin’s eyes grew wide in realization.

“No…”

“Yes.” Arthur’s eyes froze over. “There’s a traitor in your midst.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took me forever to write and I'm terrible sorry about that! I've been a bit suck on the direction I'd like to take the story but I think I've got that semi-sorted out. As always comments and kudos are so motivating so please leave one if you've enjoyed the story! Thank you all very much!

Merlin sighed, “You’re right. The signs are all there, we should’ve known a long time ago.”

“Well, what kept you guys?” Arthur’s head cocked in confusion.

“I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t spoke up.” Merlin smiled wryly to himself before he took a peak at the clock on the left wall of the tiny room. It was only seven and he felt like a week had passed already. He was tired beyond words.

“Arthur, I really think you’re onto something, but I’m so tired right now that I’m tempted to just sleep with these files, we’ve had at least two near death experiences, seen an almost dead girl and a dead man. I think that we should call it a day. It wouldn’t do us any favours to be tired out of our wits tomorrow, yeah?” Merlin finished his little declaration of “I’m done for the day” with a yawn which was quickly passed over to Arthur who gave a gaping yawn right after Merlin.

“Oh great now you’re making me tired. Fair enough, is it ok if we take this file out though?” Arthur asked as he stretched a bit.

“Yeah, I’ll talk with Monmouth.”

By the time they had drove onto the street that Arthur lived on Merlin was already snoring beside Arthur. Arthur was contemplating how to get the lanky man beside him up to the fifth floor when Merlin suddenly jolted awake, his eyes wide in alarm.

“Arthur, stop!”

Arthur gave him an inquiring look but pulled over nonetheless. Merlin had pulled out his wand and was getting out of the car.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?”

Arthur pulled Merlin back into the car, no wizard who gets freaked out by televisions is going to wander the streets of London alone on his watch.

“Arthur, tell me the number of magical beings that you know well enough to be given a copy of your keys and turn up without a call.”

“Um… None?” Arthur said, he was getting a bad feeling all of this.

“Exactly, so I shouldn’t be feeling the presence of magical beings from your flat, but here we are.” Merlin had started to get out of the car again feeling that he had done enough explanation.

“Woah woah woah, so you’re planning on going in there and to potentially face several magical assassins alone? Not happening.” Arthur immediately grabbed his gun and started loading it. “You’re gonna get an ass whooping of a life time if you went in there alone.

“If we went in there together then we’re both gonna get an ass whooping of our life time.” Merlin grumbled but his tone was already one of acceptance.

“Better together than all by yourself. Plus, I’m only coming to save my duckie in distress.” Arthur finally managed to pull Merlin back into the car for good and looked at him pointedly before he finally remembered that he had to buckle his seat belt.

They started driving again but the silence now was tense, an unknown threat now lay before them and as Lovecraft puts it. “the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”.

Five minutes later, they were parked under the building of Arthur’s apartment. There weren’t any lights coming from Arthur’s flat which either meant that Merlin was wrong, Merlin was lying or the visitors didn’t want to make themselves known. As inclined as he was to believe that Merlin was wrong and that there were no unwanted visitors in his flat with the possible intention of ending their lives, he had a feeling that Merlin was probably right.

They got out of the car and started towards the building. Arthur’s heartbeats grew harder and faster as the elevator counted up to 5 before they slid out and approached the door.

With their backs against the wall to each side of the door Arthur’s gaze met Merlin’s as he counted down silently.

“Three…Two… _One_!”

The door burst open with a crash as Arthur stepped in first with his gun pointed into the darkness of his own flat.

Merlin fumbled around a bit with the light switch before finally giving a little victorious “aha” as he found the right light switch.

Arthur would’ve cuffed Merlin on the head for completely ruining the moment but the flat was empty and he placed his priorities in finding out where the intruder might be hiding. But even that couldn’t stop him from giving a small eye roll.

“Emrys, Mr. Pendragon. I do hope I’m not intruding.”

Arthur quickly pointed his gun to the left where his living room was. The voice came from the armchair which was facing away from them.

“LeFay? What are you doing here? Why were you sitting in the dark?” Merlin lowered Arthur’s arm before hurrying into the living room to face LeFay.

“Oh great, now you’re gonna tell me his first name’s Mordred.” Arthur followed Merlin and found himself face to face with a young man with green eyes and a head of dark brown curls which contrasted greatly with his snowy skin.

When his little remark was met with gazes of wonder Arthur couldn’t help but feel very tried by life.

“And don’t tell me you’ve been sitting here in the darkness because you didn’t know where he light switch was.”

The young man flushed and stayed still. That was enough for Arthur to assume that the answer to his question was a “yes”.

“Is this some sick Arthurian themed serial killing? Oh, let’s see what we’re missing, my trusted advisor, Merlin, check, Guinevere and Lancelot? Check and a boy that may be the secret child of my sister?” Arthur groaned looking pointedly at Mordred who just shrugged.

“My mother is a half fairy of Avalon, so unless your sister’s a half fairy of Avalon…”

“Well thank god I didn’t accidentally have a child with my sister.” Arthur snickered before pausing. “Actually, that’s really gross, I take it back.”

“If you didn’t I’d probably leave with LeFay here you sicko.” Merlin elbowed Arthur slightly before turning his attention back to Mordred.

“Now, the purpose of your visit please.”

Mordred took a deep breath as he stood up. “I don’t think you’d want Mr. Pendragon to hear this.”

Arthur furrowed his brows, “But I think that Mr. Pendragon would like to hear this thank you very much.”

“Arthur please.” Merlin held his arm, his eyes making it impossible for Arthur to refuse anything to the man. But he still paused before finally sighing and backing away slightly.

“Alright then, I trust you Merlin. Please don’t let me down.” Arthur gave Merlin’s shoulder a few friendly pats before he made his way out of the flat.

“Aw aren’t you two tooth rotting.” Mordred cooed at a very unimpressed Merlin whose expression told him that he should probably cut to the chase before someone gets hurt.

“Merlin, I don’t blame you for suspecting me, but please believe me when I say that all this has nothing to do with me.”

Merlin didn’t even bother with hiding his snicker. “I don’t know why you’re doing this but be ready to be tried for your betrayal, you can play whatever trick you have up your sleeves, nothing will deter me.”

“Listen to yourself! We know what happened to Mr. and Mrs. Emrys but this has gone on too far!”

Merlin started laughing now. “You know Arthur told me about a muggle “show” where the best actors are awarded with something called an “Oscar”. With your acting skills I don’t think anyone else could be more fit for the “Oscar” than you.”

Mordred fell silent.

“And we all know who framed me for the disappearance of the crystal ball.” Merlin looked absolutely venomous now.

Mordred just shook his head. “If you just hand in the crystal ball now Kilgharah will forgive you! You know how much he favours you.”

“We’re just wasting each other’s time now. I’ll solve this case, bring back the crystal ball and expose you for the snake you are.” Merlin glared before he gave out his last warning. “And don’t you dare tell Arthur anything about this.”

“Why, because he’s just another muggle? I understand your bitterness towards me but how can you just keep him completely in the dark about your situation?” Mordred now frowned as if he was the one so bitterly wronged by Merlin.

“I need his complete trust for everything to work. Plus, he doesn’t deserve to know that about me.” Merlin’s eyes were down cast now, but not out of shame but more out of grimness. “Now scram LeFay, before I throw you out manually.”

Mordred just sighed before he apparated out of the room with a gust of wind. Merlin’s shoulder’s sunk at Mordred’s going. If he didn’t keep up this act Mordred would well be the end of him, he had a way of getting under one’s skin and into people’s heads…

*CRASH*

Merlin jumped as he snapped his head around only to see Arthur strewn atop of his demolished door.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um I suck at writing action scenes... so sorry. But I hope this chapter was worth the wait because I really really tried on those action scenes (but they're still crap). Anyways, kudos, comments, you peeps know the drill and as always hope you guys enjoy this chapter! (I thought I wrote a lot but apparently not so... yeah *cries*)

“Arthur! What-

Merlin quickly hurried over to Arthur’s side. Arthur groaned as he tried to get up on his left arm only to collapse again.

“Merlin, I think my arm’s dislocated…”

Merlin thought that Arthur flinched slightly as he took his arm to helped him up to his feet. But he quickly let the thought slide knowing that it was only because Arthur was quite hurt and that he probably accidently touched a bruised part of his skin. They stood facing the doorway as Merlin pulled his wand out.

Three hooded figures emerged from the dust and debris that falling door had caused.

“Our lady has requested your presence, Bearers of the Golden Age.”

Three female voices sounded in unison, their voices were hollow yet full of gravity, nowhere but everywhere at the same time.

“Seriously if this “Lady” just sent people who looked less sketchy we’d just come.”  

Merlin quipped lightheartedly but his stance straightened more as he held Arthur closer. Arthur huffed out a laugh, “But you ladies will have to excuse us, King Arthur and his Sorcerer has a case to crack.”

Arthur started firing first, his bullets easily dodged by the three women. Merlin summoned the file and Pen-pen before whispering into Arthur’s ear.

“Arthur, this is gonna feel a bit weird, but trust me, I’ll get us out of here.”

With that Merlin apparated out of the room with Arthur, the files and Arthur’s ridiculous rubber duckie.

They landed a second later in an inky forest, with nothing but the sounds of a few toads and crickets breaking the heaviness of the forest.

Merlin looked around before starting to hurry along with Arthur. He hated using apparition, especially when he’s nervous or scared which he was very in the last five minutes. Because he now has absolutely no idea where the hell they were and pretty sure that those hitmen? Assassins? Were going to follow them here.

Nothing but Arthur’s laborious breathing sounded in his ears as he tried to asses the situation at hand and find a plausible solution. So… they were obviously being chased by three assassins who works for this “Lady” person they’re trying to find, LeFay works for this “Lady” too, and this investigation has everything to do with the night his father…

“Merlin… Please, I can’t walk anymore.”

Arthur’s rasping snapped Merlin back to reality. He looked miserable, blood blotched his golden hair, his left arm hung limply beside him and his breath quick and shallow.

“Com’on your highness can’t have you slacking off, now can we?” Merlin smiled a bit as he let Arthur lean a bit more on him. Arthur puffed out a laugh before wincing from his wounds. “Don’t worry, once we get somewhere safe and I deal with those harpies I’ll heal you in no time.”

“But you said you were rubbish at healing magic.” Arthur breathed so quietly that it was almost masked by the sounds of the crickets which echoed throughout this dense forest.

“Yeah, I am, but I have some bone fixing medicine in my bag…Just… leave it all to me, yeah?” Merlin smiled reassuringly towards Arthur as they continued to trudge onwards.

Suddenly Merlin stopped smiling and raised his head, he turned to Arthur with a “they’re here” before quickly hiding both him and Arthur behind a particularly wide tree.

“Ok, Arthur you have to listen to me very closely and not question anything I’m about to say. We’re clearly passing in centaur grounds, now, our only chance is if they come to our aid. So listen carefully, I need you to tap out our situation in Morse again and again until you hear the tree rumble. Ok? You got it? I’m counting on you, Arthur.” Merlin said before he came out from behind the tree to face the three sorceresses who have tracked them here.

“Where is the muggle?” They asked with their eerie voices.

“You wouldn’t want to trespass within the grounds of centaurs, now would you?” Merlin asked twirling his wand, “I suggest you let me go and go tell your “Lady” that I’ve been carried off by the centaurs. It’s a win-win situation.”

“Where is the muggle?”

Merlin groaned. “This makes me sound like a bad guy but well, he was slowing me down, so I left him in the woods somewhere, I’m not even really sure myself.”

Two of the women gave a sign to the third who bowed her head in submission before pulling out her broom and flying away from their view.

Two daggers appeared in one of the lady’s hands and a scythe appeared in the other’s hands. Merlin raised his wand into a defending position. He was startled that they weren’t using wands to fight, this probably meant that if he had to fight them in close quarters there was no chance that he would be able to win.

He’ll just have to keep them five meters away from himself at all time.

Meanwhile, our beloved constable was still trying to remember Morse code…

Which he had never learned or even tried learning in his life. If they had a course on studying “normal” people, then Merlin probably failed it. No one except for over zealous army cadets knew how to write anything in Morse.

So Arthur stuck with SOS and started knocking away. He suddenly felt a tremor in the tree on his third try but soon shuddered as his eyes fixed on a dagger stuck firmly on the side of the tree. This set him back to work, knocking even more furiously than before.

Merlin was succeeding in keeping them away, but it seemed that it wasn’t only him who was good at long distance attack. He had the good sense of chaining the sorceress with the daggers up first because he assumed that she would be the best hand-to-hand combatant between the two of them.

But to his unpleasant surprise, the two daggers shot up from the ground and shot towards him along with the woman with the scythe.

Focusing his magic on the tip of a pine, he pulled it down before releasing it to hit her before ducking down to dodge the daggers which stuck themselves squarely onto the tree behind Merlin that hid Arthur.

The tree that Merlin slingshot towards the lady with the scythe didn’t quite slow her down as much as Merlin wanted it to. She almost immediately sliced the tree cleanly in half before coming back at Merlin and it was also very clear that the daggers were pulling themselves out of the tree trunk inch by inch.

So Merlin knocked the witch who was still chained up unconscious to stop the daggers (since he reasoned that she controlled them) before quickly conjuring a shield in front of him to stop the scythe lady.

She jumped back a bit and Merlin cursed himself for letting her so close to him. He started shooting off spells at her trying to keep her from getting too close to him while she just twirled her scythe to stop the blasts.

Merlin was getting concerned as to why she wasn’t attacking before she suddenly raised her scythe and an eerie blue glow surrounded the blade of the scythe.

That was when he noticed the little crescent shape of a moon on her scythe and a horrible realization struck him.

This was the lunar scythe, able to reflect attacks back to the attacker.

Merlin only had two seconds to conjure up the strongest shield he had ever conjured up in his life before the enormous blast came his way.

The explosion that ensured was like nothing before. Trees snapped like twigs and the brightness of it was enough to blind.

“Merlin? Merlin??”

Out of the dust, Merlin saw Arthur, kneeling beside him with a worried expression on his face. “I’m fine.” Merlin coughed as he quickly got back up, the dust and wood chips would blind their opponent, but it also blinded them.

The trees in a ten-meter radius were now but stumps, trunks strewn on the ground which allowed the moonlight to shine into the now open field.

Merlin looked up and his face paled, it was a full moon tonight.

Their attention was turned towards figures which surrounded them all looking identical to the witch.

“Um Merlin… I thought there was only one.” Arthur looked around, alarmed to say the least before Merlin suddenly got down to the ground and started drawing circles and runes as he explained to Arthur. “The moon is full tonight and this allows her to be reflected nine folds by the mirrors she’s placed around us. I’ve noticed that they use a very ancient elemental magic, not unlike the druids. I have a plan, but you have to keep her away until then alright?”

“And how in the world am I supposed to do that?? I’m quite sure that I can’t hit them with my gun.”

Merlin stopped drawing and looked up with an exasperated sigh. “Look, use that shield of yours, they can’t touch you but can very well beat me to pulp. So, I need you to be my temporary body guard keep them away.”

“But I can’t control it!”

Arthur’s voice grew panicked as the ten figures approached closer and closer, their steady speed a mockery to their powerlessness of the situation.

“Yes Arthur, yes you can, it’s a gift to you _use it_.”

“Merlin I’m just a-

“USE IT.”

Arthur decided right then and there that he probably would rather die protecting Merlin than pissing him off.

So he started concentrating, make acquaintance with his secret magic side (which, if he was honest, probably didn’t exist) that sort of thing. And to his expectation, nothing happened.

With a roll of his eyes, he pulled out his gun (which he actually knows how to use, _Merlin_ ) and started aiming at the approaching figures.

He opened fire at the first figure which fully came out of the debris. Bang! The guns shot resonated, but the bullet only went through the duplicate.

Ok, so four shots left and nine more figures to try out. Arthur decided that if he could get the actual person then the rest of the illusions would be wounded too since they reflected the original caster.

*crunch*

A twig snapped under the foot of one of the figures and Arthur immediately fired a shot at her. He was disappointed when it merely went through the duplicate again. So the duplicates can interact with the physical world, great. This was a case when your opponent could beat the living daylight out of you while you couldn’t even touch them.

The sorceress was beginning to tire of this and suddenly the figures started to speed up and were getting closer by the second.

Arthur quickly picked up some rocks and began throwing them at the figures. Whichever one could be hit by the rock would be the one he’ll shoot.

*thud* the stone hit the ground yet again, seven more to go.

*thud* six more to go.

*thud thud thud* three more to go.

Suddenly Arthur noticed that there were only two more around him which he hasn’t thrown a rock at yet.

He looked above and there she was, the original of the duplicates, her scythe raised up ready to take both their lives.

There was no time to think, Arthur pounced on top of Merlin who was still absorbed in his magic circle drawing and squeezed his eyes close.

_Maybe Gaius and Alice will miss him_

*BAM*

Arthur looked up in surprise only to see his shield forcing every figure back by at least five meters. He looked to Merlin who just beamed at him and a warm feeling made itself home in his heart.

_Well, maybe Merlin will miss him too._

Merlin brought Arthur to his feet before he pulled at both ends of his wand and it just extended itself to a staff. “Alright, enough party tricks. I’ll show you some real magic.” Merlin threw Arthur a dashing smile before he tapped the circle he drew three times with his staff.

“Surrectius Sita.”

Arthur looked up when he noticed that the moonlight was gone and saw a sight he’ll never forget. The trees which had snapped during the explosion were now in the sky, their pointy top pointed downwards.

“Transfiguro!”

They all suddenly became silver and all their branches folded in on themselves as the trees now looked like large silver nails.

“OCCUMBO”

And they all dropped at the same time, their pointy head slicing through the night air. Arthur immediately looked to Merlin in alarm because um, hello? What the hell are they supposed to do about not getting stabbed to death by giant metal tree-nails??

“Now Arthur, kiss me.”

Arthur couldn’t even respond to that ridiculous command before he was pulled to Merlin and his lips collided with another pair of dry yet full lips.

They. Were. Kissing.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, this fight has been going on for a bit too long... I really thought that I would've been able to finish it with this chapter! I promise I'll be done with this fight in the next chapter. And another thing that's just killing me, 8 chapters of crap and I'm not even finished with one effing day!! I swear the days will go by quicker in the next chapters!! Anyways thanks to everyone who's still sticking around and that little number besides my inbox is the reason for my being, anyways, as always please enjoy!!

Arthur’s eyes widened in shock and astonishment at the scene playing out in front of him.

His shield glowed brightly around the both of them while the ten illusions and caster could only stand and gape in horror at the trees were within a few meters of impaling every one of them.

But seemingly out of nowhere, ice started to cover each tree.

Then, with a deafening crunch every one of them become glittering snow fluttering down harmlessly around them.

Merlin immediately let go of Arthur before turning around to face the returned sorceress who had left earlier for a futile search of Arthur.

The two sorceresses regrouped around the third who was still chained to the ground but starting to regain consciousness. The one with the scythe quickly cut her chained companion loose and the three stood before Arthur and Merlin once again, one with the two daggers, one with the scythe and the just returned one with a long translucent spear.

Arthur had found a branch somewhere among the wreckage and was now leaning heavily on it. Both he and Merlin were almost swaying from fatigue. This was becoming the longest day of his life and he could tell that Merlin probably used a bit too magic today.

“This is an impossible fight Emrys.”

“Surrender.”

“Our Lady will have mercy.”

They chanted together, their once emotionless voices seemed to hide a hint of smugness.  

Arthur looked at Merlin, he could see the determination shining in his eyes, never dimming. “Merlin, leave.” Merlin raised an eyebrow at him. “Pendragon don’t give me the “I’m slowing you down so just leave me here to die” bullshit. You know I won’t listen.”

Arthur steeled himself for the words that’s about to come out of his mouth. “Emrys, I heard everything. Everything that I didn’t _deserve_ to hear.”

Merlin’s face paled immediately.

“When I left the room, I put a microphone on you. I can’t believe I’m working with you. A liar and a thief, I’m only here because you’ve dragged me into this mess and I can’t drag myself out—

“SHUT UP.” Merlin shouted shakily, each breath raspy and laced with emotion. “I _know_ what you’re trying to do.” He looked to Arthur with sad yet determined eyes and shook his head. “Would you leave me if we switched positions?”

“Without a moment of hesitation.” Arthur was still trying to drive Merlin away, they asked for him, if they went away with him then Merlin would be able to finish the investigation and finally move on to become who he was meant to be.

Merlin just shook his head even more furiously and faced away from Arthur. “I’ll get us both out, alive.”

The sorceresses suddenly surged forward from three different directions. Merlin swiped his wand up vehemently and a ring of fire burst alive from the ground around him and Arthur stopping the sorceresses in their tracks for a moment.

The third sorceress stabbed her lance to the ground and it began growing and morphing before an enormous ice leopard rose, its roar almost extinguishing Merlin’s flames.

The other two sorceresses took their chances, they leapt in and came right for Merlin who was gathering his flames up to form a magnificent dragon the size of the leopard.

Bang!

The scythe sorceress fell at Arthur’s gun shot. “Finally, I hit something.” He muttered laughing to himself before trying to stand slightly straighter in front of the remaining sorceress with his branch.

The witch merely raised her hand and the daggers came flying straight towards Arthur. Arthur dropped himself flat on the ground which was the extent that his body was allowing him to move. This allowed him to narrowly miss the daggers, and he quickly tried to retaliate by firing a few shots at the armless sorceress in front of him.

She quickly intercepted the bullets with the daggers and proceeded to force the daggers to stab Arthur who was still on the ground.

Arthur’s body was still complaining about him dropping it into the ground so suddenly. He couldn’t move and didn’t plan to, he had his shield.

But unexpectedly, the daggers merely stabbed into Arthur’s sleeves, missing his arms by a mere centimeter.

“You missed.” Arthur smirked at the sorceress. But she merely snickered back “I know.”

She clapped her hands together and Arthur screamed.

Lighting struck the daggers repeatedly and passed through Arthur before being grounded. The pain was unbearable, and Arthur quickly fell unconscious after several minutes of screaming and writhing on the ground.

The sorceress summoned her daggers back and started striding forward with a triumphant air to collect her spoil, the unconscious muggle.

The dragon and leopard were caught in a brutal fight with both magicians struggling to one up the other. Merlin had never felt so strained, he had performed more feats of magic today than the last week combined.

But even so, as a talented offensive magician, the other sorceress was struggling to keep the dragon from biting off her leopard’s neck. She wouldn’t stand a chance against Merlin in full strength.

“Drop your wand if you want him to live.”

A voice suddenly cut through the heated battle. Merlin’s dragon was taken down by the neck as his attention went to the unconscious constable within the sorceresses’ grasp. His clothing was charred and his features slack.

“What did you do to him?!” Merlin raised his wand at the both of them knowing deeply that it was suicide trying to take on both in his condition.

“Drop your wand and we’ll talk.” The sorceress raised a hand, her sharp nails pointed to Arthur’s heart and Merlin’s hand almost immediately let go at the sight.

“Alright, what do you want? Spit it out.” Merlin said, his stance rigid and his expression cold.

“You know what we want. Our lady wants to see you and the muggle, come with us and no harm will come to either of you.”

Merlin clenched and unclenched his hands, considering all his options going with them might actually be his best choice. But once he’s gone with them they would be at their mercy, they would have to comply with all their terms and conditions. This was a situation he really didn’t want to place them in.

Suddenly, from beneath his feet he felt a rumble of the earth, _an answer_.

_Failure isn’t something to fear, hopelessness is_

At that thought Merlin quickly summoned his wand within his grasps again as the sorceresses were distracted by the rumbling of the earth too.

“Accio Arthur Pendragon!”

Arthur flew from his captor’s hands and towards Merlin who was ready to catch his friend and whisk them out of here.

But in his anticipation of having Arthur come tumbling back into his arms, he completely failed to notice the daggers flying towards him from behind until it was too late.

Merlin heard the sickening crunch before he administered the pain. The blades pierced right through his shoulder blades pinning him on the ground.

Tears of pain streaked Merlin’s face as he gasped, no, almost sobbed for air. He looked up to see them dragging Arthur away, leaving him here to die of blood loss. The pain was overwhelming and it felt like as if every muscle, every bone had melted as Merlin tried in vain to move even his fingers.

The pain, panic, anger and disappointment curled within his stomach to form a monster of a emotion which teared through the cold night air with a gut wrenching scream. But soon the exhaustion and blood loss caught up and the last thing that Merlin knew was Arthur’s unconscious form being dragged further and further away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've enjoyed please leave a comment and kudos! Both are immensely appreciated!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Le gasp* Did I actually update in a week?? Did I, for once, not procrastinate and just sat down and actually wrote a thousand words in one sitting?? Well, ladies and gentlemen, believe it or not, I did. Anyway, I'm posting this to celebrate Canada Day (Happy B-day Canada! XD) so don't expect any more on-time updates for me. XD Well, as always please comment and leave a kudos if you've enjoyed!

As far as her day was concerned it had been a pretty good one. The sorceress thought as she played with her daggers which she had retrieved from the auror’s shoulders. The blond muggle her lady had insisted them capturing was being dragged along behind her.

For a bit back there she had seriously considered the possibility of not being able to get the muggle. That auror was surprisingly strong and tactical, not that she was praising him or anything.

A sudden feeling which caused a shiver to run down her spine stopped her musing and footsteps. She turned her head to both sides of her and it seemed to have stopped her two other companions too.

Was it the centaurs? No, this was a feeling of powerful and very ancient magic unlike anything they have ever felt before.

They turned around and gathered closer together leaving the muggle slumped against a tree stump behind them.

It was the auror, standing with his head dangling. They looked at each other in surprise, daggers through the shoulder blades would’ve rendered anyone useless for at least a month no matter how strong their magic was.

Then, his head snapped up and his eyes flew open. There were no iris nor pupils in his eyes anymore, all that was there was a blinding golden light.

This was not the auror anymore.

“Who are you?” They asked, their voice struggling to stay emotionless, this man-no being in front of them was…pure, undiluted magic.

“ _I am Merlin, son of Balinor and Hunith, yet I am also Emrys, son of the earth, the sea, the sky. They are under my protection.”_

His mouth didn’t move as the words, dripping with cold fury and magic resonated around them.

“Who are?”

“ _The Once and Future King and his Sorcerer are part of a path the likes of you cannot change. Your lady **knows** this. If you don’t release my King this instant, I will show you no mercy.” _

They all froze, the pressure released from this being was almost enough to bring them to their knees. So this, this _monster_ was Emrys.

Soon enough, it seemed that they had reached the agreement that nothing was worth facing the wrath of this being. So, they bowed their heads slightly and disappeared into the night with the knowledge that they had barely escaped complete obliteration by the hands of Emrys.

Emrys let out a sigh and looked to Arthur with an almost… tender expression. Arthur slowly woke up seemingly aching in a lot of parts of his body. Emrys knew it was his time to go, if he stayed longer Merlin’s body wouldn’t be able to take him anymore.

But he had to see Arthur again, he had to see those blue eyes that contained his universe.

“Merlin…?”

Emrys bowed and closed his eyes with a smile. “My King.” Then, he continued his slumber within this mortal’s body. One day, one day they’ll meet again, but until then, he must continue his slumber…

Arthur watched in confusion as Merlin bowed to him and called him “My King”. Ok, he knew that they were stuck in some sick Arthurian themed mystery, but he really didn’t have to do that, it really really creeped him—

Oh shit

Merlin collapsed right before him right after his little bow. Arthur’s body screamed as he half crawled, half dragged himself to Merlin’s limp body. _Oh god please, we’re stranded in the middle of a magical forest, I have no idea where the hell we are…_

Arthur’s panicked train of thought was interrupted by sound of hooves and thundering footsteps, he looked up from Merlin’s unconscious body to see a man almost three meters tall who was accompanied by an _actual fucking centaur_.

“Please, he needs help… he’s my friend… _I can’t lose him._ ”

And with that Arthur collapsed once again out of sheer exhaustion and pain.

“Oi, oi wake up, it’s breakfast time.”

Arthur was half woken up by the sun in his eyes and half by the voice calling him up to eat breakfast. It took him probably half a minute for his brain to register that he wasn’t in his own little flat which had its door _blown clean off_ anymore.

Wait… his door, was blown

Clean off??

The insane events of what he presumed to be yesterday came flooding into his mind again. The blue van, the girl, meeting of a magical police, auror, Merlin, the lady, her three assassins…

“Where the hell am I??” Were the first words that he was able to muster as he stared around the cabin that he was in. His eyes eventually fell unto the centaur who had awoken him and then to the giant who was still cooking breakfast.

“Relax, ok? The name’s Gwaine and that great grandson of a giant over there is my pal Percival.” The centaur stuck out his hand and smiled, his eyes crinkled, and it seemed that this was an expression he wore often because of the crinkles at the side of his eyes.

“Right, Arthur Pendragon, nice to meet you.” Arthur looked pointedly at the centaur as he shook the centaur’s hand with his good hand. “You still haven’t answered my question yet.”

“Oh right! Sorry, this is the forest of Essetir, we’re actually pretty close to Hogwarts.” Gwaine answered before he cocked his head at Arthur. “You’re a muggle.”

Arthur took a deep breath willing himself to be patient with the person-no centaur who saved both his and Merlin’s life. “I am, I’m working with the other guy, Merlin, to solve a case.”

“So, you’re a muggle auror.” Gwaine looked at him like he had grown three heads, wait scratch that, he’s probably seen plenty of things with three heads.

“No, I’m a detective, a police.” Arthur said slowly as if he was speaking with an eight-year-old. “I didn’t even know of… this, world of magic before Merlin dragged me along to gather clues for our case.”

“Hm, alright then.” Gwaine just shrugged as he trotted off to the table to help Percival with setting up breakfast.

Arthur shook his head as if to clear it as he started hobbling towards the breakfast table. “Anyways, where’s Merlin? Is he alright?”

“He’s hurt pretty badly, whoever did that showed no mercy, they pierced right through his shoulder blades.” The great-grandson-of-a-giant who had been silent spoke up as he placed three plates of eggs, bacon and pancakes on the table. “He’ll have to stay in bed for the better part of a month.”

“Thank you.” Arthur sighed as he tucked in. “How long have I been asleep?”

“About a day, we found you guys the day before yesterday.” Gwaine answered his face stuffed full with pancakes earning an exasperated look of fondness from Percival. “But seriously, your friend there is quite a wizard! Those three assassins have NEVER failed before and no offense, but he probably took on all three of them by himself and that’s just-wow-like, I guess what I’m trying to say is that he really does live up to his name.”

Arthur smiled a bit at Gwaine’s crazy hand gestures and the mentioning of Merlin’s magic. He’ll admit, it really is quite something.

But he stopped eating as his attention was caught by something Gwaine had said. “Wait, what do you mean they have never failed before?”

“They’re a quite well known group… and their measures are extreme. It’s, well a bit of politics. They’re not unlike the terrorist groups in your muggle world.” Gwaine started explaining as his expression turned grim. Percival gave his friend a few friendly pats on the shoulders “It’s all because of that prophecy.” He added to Gwaine’s explanation as if that cleared everything up.

Arthur was then handed a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar and butter by Percival. “You should go check on your friend.”

Arthur nodded before leaving the two friends to check on his own.

Merlin was looking outside through the window by his bed when Arthur came in. Arthur almost wanted to undo his interruption of the ethereal scene before him. Merlin looked so pale that the sunlight almost made him translucent. The contrast created by his raven hair made it even more so. It was beautiful, unworldly even.

Arthur couldn’t help but think back to the kiss in the middle of that chaotic night. He knew it meant nothing, a spell probably required it or something…

“Oh, quit dawdling by the door and give me my breakfast. As much as I’d like to be able to photosynthesize I’m not a plant.” Merlin turned towards Arthur and sniped impatiently.

Arthur just smiled and came in with the oatmeal.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m made of butter.” Merlin huffed as the bowl of oat was placed into his hands.

“That might be the weirdest answer I’ve ever gotten for that question.” Arthur the chair from the table in front of Merlin’s bed to sit beside him.

“Well, it’s true.” Merlin tried to shrug but winced at the movements of his shoulders. “Um Arthur… I don’t think I can raise my arm.”

Arthur sighed as he took a spoonful of oatmeal with his good hand and put it in front of Merlin’s face. “Here comes the airplane.”

“Haha, real funny.” Merlin glared as he took an aggressive bite of the oatmeal.

Just like this, with a bite of oatmeal between a few lines of banter Merlin managed to finish the bowl of oatmeal with Arthur’s help.

Something started to stir in Arthur’s chest as he left Merlin’s room to give the bowl and spoon to the pair of friends. But you can be damn sure that Arthur will squish that something out ASAP, no one needed this ugly feeling of his.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got a summer job and boy it's EXHAUSTING. So my updates might become even more infrequent than before... an early apology for that! And also, I'm in desperate need for a beta, like please, if anyone is interested just say something in the comment. I literally have no idea how the story is from another's POV and yeah, a beta would be IMMENSELY appreciated!! Alright, as always please enjoy this chapter!

Guinevere was a bit strange these days… Arthur thought as the elevator descended floor by floor, the little numbers counting down to his freedom.

The memory of a little flower boutique down the road came to Arthur’s mind as he left the prison behind him and properly bathed in the glorious afternoon sun.

His lips turned upwards into a little smile as he drew up a plan in his mind, he had already texted Guinevere of this but he was sure that she would be thrilled when he brought a nice bunch of daisies and the good news home with him.

He had done it, it wasn’t easy to tell his father that he was going to quit to become a detective. Even though his father had shouted abuse at him he knew that Guinevere would be behind him every step of the way.

That’s all that matters.

His head was held high, relishing in the sense of direction his life has gained, his heart just ready to burst from the tastes of unconditional love from Guinevere. He knew that he didn’t have the cleanest record when it came down to being a decent human being but he’s working on it, slowly but surely. As sappy and cheesy as it sounds, it was love that had compelled him to change.

He took a sniff of the fresh daisies before opening the door to his flat still smiling like a lovesick fool. But the sight in front of him froze his smile.

A man held Guinevere in his arms kissing her passionately and she was savouring every bit of his kiss.

Arthur’s throat couldn’t work but his heart seemed to make up for the uselessness of his throat; it was slamming itself against his chest seemingly with the will to break his ribcage.

“Guinevere…?”

The startled woman backed into the table and tipped over her mug. 

_“This is so ugly Arthur.” Guinevere joked at the mug she held which had a red heart printed on it._

_“Well, I was hoping that you would be reminded that my heart’s always within your grasp, trying to warm you up.” Arthur smiled sheepishly scratching the back of his neck._

_“I love it Arthur, thank you.” Guinevere gave him a peck on the lips as she smiled brightly at him._

The sickening crunch that sounded when Guinevere stepped on the shattered mug almost felt like she was stepping on the beating organ inside of him. He couldn’t help but wince in pain.  

But his pain didn’t matter and he almost rushed to her side to see if she was alright. The man who was already beside her beat him to it and Arthur almost wanted to slap himself when a wave of relief crashed over him when he realized she was wearing slippers.

There was an uncomfortable period of silence before Arthur finally found the courage to speak up again.

“Guinevere… what’s the meaning of this?” The daisies had scattered to the floor by now, never to be given to its intended recipient.

“Can’t you see? I’m leaving.”

Arthur finally spared a glance to the suitcases beside the table.

“Why? D-Did I do something wrong? I can change, I swear!”

“People don’t change, Arthur, and now you’ve quit from your position to become what? A private detective? Good luck with that “Sherlock Holmes”.” Guinevere’s expression had changed from startled to condescending. “You promised me you would find Morgana and bring her back.”

“I’m trying—

“Then you’re not trying hard enough! It’s been what? Two years? Two years of being –

Guinevere seemed to not have the strength to put Morgana’s woes into words, but she ploughed on soon enough. “While…while I’m forced to play house with you and now you completely sever off your influence??”

“But you supported me… you-you said that I shouldn’t blindly follow orders, that I should try to make a life of my own. That I was more than my last name.” Arthur’s voice was barely above a whisper now; his proud head bowed low.

“My God, how have you not been shredded in business yet? Support? Love? It’s all a lie Arthur. You’re just an insecure bully from a dysfunctional family. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand how Morgana endured being transferred from one hell-hole to the next.” 

Guinevere looked like she wanted to laugh at Arthur’s desperation for love. He took every scrap of it that was thrown at him but every time he tried to hold on it would evade him and slip through his fingers like it had never existed before.

“You’re going to leave no matter what I say or do… right?” Arthur gave up, but his heart screamed and thrashed at the realization, it told him to stop this, to keep trying no matter what. But he can’t, he didn’t want to anymore, people he loved had an uncanny habit of leaving him, he should be used to that now.

“Let’s go Lance.”

The man nodded before silently giving Arthur a sympathetic look.

And god how Arthur hate that look.

That look that he was drowned in when his mother passed away, when he found out that the only reason his father refused to see him was that it hurt him too much to be reminded of the reason the love of his life was gone forever and when Morgana was taken away, screaming and tear stricken.

It seemed that no matter what he did everything was his fault. He didn’t try hard enough, he wasn’t good enough, he was never enough. He was so tired of this feeling of unending guilt, this shame, but whenever he tried to get up and brush himself off, life seemed to shove him right back into the mud.

Arthur felt the world spin around him, everything seemed so surreal. Guinevere… his beautiful, loving Guinevere would never leave him, how could she? This is so unlike her… This must be some horrible, twisted nightmare.

“I am _so_ terribly sorry, Mr. Pendragon.”

Those words seemed to knock the wind out of him, the man was handsome, his eyes a gentle chocolate brown that seemed to match Guinevere’s perfectly.

Guinevere swept past him, her perfume filling his nose for the last time… No, he can’t live with this! If she left he… he’ll…

“Guinevere, please. I beg you.” Arthur grasped onto her hand and let go of his pride, along with what dignity he had left.

But her eyes were no longer gentle, they were dark with disdain and indifference.

“Goodbye, Arthur _Pendragon_.”

All Arthur could do was crumble and cry with his wilting daisies.

* * *

 

Arthur blinked himself awake, feeling the tears wet his cheeks. He brought a hand up to wipe them away before rubbing his face to school his features into an expression of no-I-do-not-have-crippling-depression.

See? This is why falling for someone you’ve only known for a week isn’t a good idea, actually scratch that, falling for anyone would probably be a bad idea for him. Arthur hmphed out a little self-deprecating laugh as an image of him sixty years later, probably alone and just a huddled bundle of sob story came to his mind.

But he sighed and looked out the window of his room in the cabin. He and Merlin had been staying with Gwaine and Percival for a week now and they’ve been nothing but generous and kind-hearted. They need to leave as soon as Merlin’s healed though, he didn’t want to bring any trouble to the friends.

And after this case… well, after this case he’d break all connections with Merlin. He’d rather not see Merlin again than see him so close yet so-unattainable. They’re quite literally from two different worlds and-

And Arthur knew how much of a coward he was when it came to things like this.

He stood up and shook these morning musings from his head, now that he was fully awake real, important questions needed to be asked. Merlin’s been sleeping mostly through the week, so they haven’t had much progress with the case.

He _needed_ to know what Merlin knew, if they were going to solve this case they’ll need to really trust in each other. What’s up with Mordred? What position exactly was Merlin in? Why was the crystal ball and the van stolen? And most importantly, who is the lady?

Arthur started jotting these questions down prepping for his interrogation of Merlin. It’s not going to be fun because he knew that under all the carefree and excitable personality Merlin was an enigma and is a top notch auror.

He went through his morning routines and breakfast before bringing Merlin’s breakfast for him as he did every morning for the past week.

He was going to get every scrap of information he needed if it was the last thing he does.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I swear I haven't given up or anything! I had dug myself a really deep hole and I really just needed to straighten the story out before I continued. Sorry for such a long wait! But I hope it'll be worth it because I promise some pretty crazy plot twists in the future. ;) I might come back and revise this chapter but I wanted to post this ASAP because I feel so guilty for not posting in months. Anyways please enjoy and kudos and comments are always appreciated! :D

“Merlin.”

“Arthur.”

Merlin replied with a knowing look in his eyes. Arthur sighed before sitting down once again by Merlin’s bedside.

“I’m guessing you know why I’m here.”

“You have questions and I have answers.”

Arthur nodded slightly as he set the bowl of oatmeal on the cabinet beside Merlin’s bed. “You don’t have to tell me everything, but I hope you can be truthful with what you tell me.”

Time seemed to freeze as they sat in silence, contrasted by the playful birdsongs outside the cabin.

“My sister, she had dreams that would come true.” Arthur’s voice broke the tense silence. He might need to give Merlin the impression that he’s opening up to coax Merlin into confiding in him.

“So she’s a seer.” Merlin remarked. “That’s why you accepted magic so quickly.”

“Yes, so you were right on some level, I’m really not like the others, despite the reason not being my name.” Arthur smiled a bit as he’s finally gotten Merlin to talk.

“What’s her name?” Merlin asked. “Don’t tell me, it’s Morgana isn’t it?”

Arthur chuckled quietly, “That’s actually her middle name, but yes, she preferred that name. She thought it was cool to have a name like that.”

“What happened to her?”

_“Arthur! Arthur!! No please, save me, I don’t have magic, I don’t have anything to do with the devil! ARTHUR! PLEASE!”_

“Why do you think anything happened to her?” Arthur’s tone became cold, a little distant and snappy.

“You used the past tense.” Merlin cocked an eyebrow like he knew exactly what Arthur was doing and he was just playing along to humour him.

“Shit, I’m really bad at this.” Arthur rubbed his face, he should just stop this to save himself the humiliation. “Merlin, please, I know we’re not, friends or anything but we need to work together. I know it seems like I’m hoarding this case all to myself but I realize now that the girl was just the tip of the iceberg and I need your expertise in the magic world if we have any chance of uncovering this plot.”

“Did you just stop being a prat for a second there.” Merlin looked at him with a bemused smile before sighing wistfully. “They do grow up so fast, princelings.”

“ _Mer_ lin!!”

And so by lunch, in between mouthfuls of oatmeal Arthur was able to sort out a clearer picture of the case before him.

The van went missing three years ago, due to a certain traitor’s (*cough cough* Mordred, as provided subtly by Merlin) interference. He probably intercepted halfway and got hold of the truck one way or another.

The day before Arthur got onto the case, the hall of prophecy was broken in and the alleged prophecy made by Merlin himself was taken.

The next day a girl was kidnapped in front of a detective constable and the rest is history.

“So what do we know about this organization and the “prophecy”?” Arthur pitched questions as he jotted notes in his notebook.

“Let’s start with the organization. They call themselves “The Druids”, which, in my opinion is the least fitting name they could’ve chosen, but I digress. They’re very secretive, almost impossible to penetrate.”

Arthur raised his eyebrows. “You said “almost”.”

Merlin smirked a little at that, “I’ve been on LeFay’s tail for three years now, what he knows I know. That’s why he had to frame me, I was dangerously close to gathering the last pieces of my case against him and he had to act fast.

“Their actions are tied to the “prophecy”. But no one actually knows what the prophecy says, yes, it is stored in the hall of prophecy, but it’s silent.”

“So if they don’t know what the prophecy actually says what are their actions even based on?” Arthur would freely admit that he was quite confused by this mysterious group at this moment.

“They’ve probably gotten some scraps of it from the centaurs, they speak the language of the stars. My guess is that they’ve been trying to find the prophesy to justify their actions. And they really might succeed, Merlin’s name gives credibility to even the most outrageous.” Merlin continued trying and slightly succeeding in gesticulating with his healing arms.

“I can most definitely see that.” Arthur smirked as he raised an eyebrow at Merlin who just rolled his eyes.

* * *

 

*Knock knock* “My Lady?” The voice of the young auror sounded from closed doors.

“Come in!”

The Heavy doors swung open and Mordred emerged before kneeling before the lady which prevented him from seeing the lady’s smirk. _The game was up_.

“Mordred, what a pleasant surprise. What news do you have of Emrys and his King?” She rose from her chair and started circling Mordred, not unlike a shark circling its prey, ready to go in for the killing strike.

“Emrys still refuses to cooperate. But he’s getting desperate, there’s not much path left for him. They still do not know of the prophesy and our true intent.” Mordred reported emotionless, his face stoic. “Pendragon is besotted with his sorcerer, but he does not yet know Merlin’s level of deceit.”

“Hm, besotted, is he? Not unlike you then.” The lady smiled, but no one could ever know if the smile reached her eyes now. There were both a glazed milky white.

“My lady?” Mordred raised his head to stare at those dead eyes now, hating every moment of it because every time he looked into them shivers would run down his spine.

“Kara, she’s quite a lovely girl, isn’t she? Majoring in Muggle Studies?” The Lady tapped her lips as if in contemplation.

The shivers now became trembles, a bead of cold sweat ran down Mordred’s temple. “I will _not_ repeat my past life.”

“Everything will repeat as they did before Mordred!! That’s the only way to keep the balance of the world as the Triple Goddess decrees it!” The Lady snarled before regaining her composure. “So you either run back into the not-so-open arms of Emrys, or you truly serve _me_ and _me_ only from now on.”

Mordred’s eyes had a determined gleam set into them. “ _No,_ I don’t care what you do to me, I will stand by Emrys and His King, I will rewrite my destiny.”

“Such inspirational words!” The Lady sighed, almost wistful as she sat back down on her throne. “But it seems that destiny’s against you, as always.”

“What do you mean?” The question was short, and terse as Mordred stood up straight and brushed his knees off.

“Kara’s dying, and it’s because of Pendragon, again.”

All the colour drained from Mordred’s face before a blush of fury painted it scarlet. “You! It was all you! You set all of this up! You’re the only one to blame for her situation!”

“Alright, I admit, I did use a little imperious spell on her to trick the duo that she was holding “herself” hostage. But did I fire the killing shot?” The Lady cocked her head and smiled. “No, Mordred. It was _Arthur Pendragon_. If she dies, it’ll be his fault.”

Mordred said nothing as he stormed out of the room. He was going to find Merlin and Arthur, and he was going to tell them everything. Kara’s life will not have been lost in vain.

 


End file.
